Error on deed: real estate rant

Discussion in 'The Bench' started by 64 wildcat conv, Jan 9, 2019.

  1. 64 wildcat conv

    64 wildcat conv Silver Level contributor

    So, my family and I are all packed up and ready to move approximately 30 miles from our current home to be closer to work, a better neighborhood, etc. The closing for the sale of the "new" (actually built in 1973) home was scheduled for January 10. I received a call from the seller's agent that the closing attorney found an error in the deed from when the house was sold to the current owner back in 1973. The error is that the wrong lot number was used (should have been "3" and not "4"). The previous deed from when the lot was sold to the developer was correct, so there's no doubt that this was just a "typo" on the part of the recorder. The plot map is also correct.

    I asked the seller's agent what is the big deal and she said that it is a significant error and that the sale must be put on hold. Furthermore the only legal ways to correct the current deed is to have both parties (grantor and grantee) sign a corrected deed, or the deed can be changed through a court order.

    Now, this error occurred nearly 50 years ago. The grantee is a widow in her 80s and the grantors are both deceased. The attorney is in discussions with an heir to the grantor's estate to see if they will sign a corrected deed, but so far it seems that party wants nothing to do with it. That leaves the court order which would require a legal notice be posted for 30 days and an additional 15 day waiting period for any interested parties to make a claim or file with the court. Potentially I am looking at about a 2 month wait for the sale to go through.

    It really ticks me off that the attorney has had our paperwork for at least a month but had done nothing until last week. We have already packed 90% of our current home's contents and stored them in our garage. We are basically living out of suitcases in our own home. Thankfully we have a second garage where my 64 Wildcat and 29 Ford are stored, or we would really be in bad shape.

    This morning I had to cancel the movers that were scheduled for Friday. My wife had to fix things with both school districts so our kids can stay where they are at for now. Fortunately our current home is still on the market, but there are a couple of interested families. As everything with our new place is now "TBD" I'll have to be sure that any agreement made with buyers of our current home has a provision for us to stay there until the new place is available since we have too much stuff to move twice.

    How can things get so screwed up?
     
  2. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

    Attorneys call this a proceeding "To Remove a Cloud From a Title". In some jurisdictions it would be a proceeding to "Quiet Title". If it cannot be done by consent, I understanding the delay due to the public notice requirement. If your legal counsel is in that line of work, he is scheduling the title search fairly close to the closing date. Then, he has to update the search again before the new deed is filed.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 9, 2019
  3. 1973gs

    1973gs Well-Known Member

    I bought my house in 1988 and refinanced it through the same company in 1992. I paid it off in 1999. I applied for a home equity line of credit in 2002. The bank said that the first loan was showing up as not being satisfied. I called the mortgage company and explained the problem. They stated that in 2000, they sold all of their residential mortgages to a different bank and that I should call them. I asked the woman how could you have sold two satisfied loans to a different company? There was no mortgage to sell. I called the other company and they agreed with me that there was no reason to purchase a satisfied mortgage and the original mortgage holder had to write the satisfaction letter. The original company kept insisting that they no longer wrote residential mortgages and they couldn't write a mortgage satisfaction letter.I tried for over a year to get a satisfaction letter without any results. I had to hire an attorney to call the original company to get a satisfaction letter. I went into my attorney's and he made a five minute phone call. I had the letter within one week.
     
  4. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    My two neighbors are in legal battle over a section of property one foot by 200 feet. Thats right. Both of their deeds say they're lots are 100 feet wide. Only thing is one lot is 99 feet wide. Evidentally, when the properties were divided in the 50's, someone goofed on the survey. No one caught it till my neighbor decided to put up a new fence on what was his property line. What a mess. Now the question is who was paying the taxes, who's property is it really? Is one neighbor going to have to buy that section from the other and who is going to pay to relocate the fence. So far my one neighbor is in it with a $5k retainer for his lawyer to start. The only winners are going to be the lawyers it seems.

    The funniest part is it all started because of a bush. One neighbor couldn't see the road when backing up out of his driveway. Instead of going to his neighbor to resolve it, he went right to the town to complain. S0 the town got involved and it snowballed into an avalanche. The irony of the whole thing is my one neighbor would of gladly removed the bush if the other neighbor just said something
     
  5. Luxus

    Luxus Gold Level Contributor

    I feel your pain, it's a tough position to be in. I gotta say that heir is being a major D.
     
  6. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

    Jason if the owners have title insurance, the carriers will handle the dispute, retain, and fund legal counsel. There is no way that a property owner should decline purchasing title insurance. I cannot imagine a mortgage company not requiring it as a part of the closing package.
     
    71gs3504sp and Smokey15 like this.
  7. 69a-body

    69a-body Well-Known Member

    Identical situation happened to my parents place except the missing 2 feet were at the other end of the block, so like 20 fences would have to move.
     
  8. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

    I remember a matter involving a subdivision wherein a title search mistake was made many years earlier in time and long before the property was subdivided. The old title search mistake affected many lots. Tens of years later the old title search mistake came to light. Suddenly, a string of homeowners were informed that they did not own their fences, backyards, decks and parts of their home structures proper. Fortunately, all affected owners had title insurance. The various title insurance companies had to negotiate the purchase of the non-owned land from the real owner, lot by lot.
     
  9. 64 wildcat conv

    64 wildcat conv Silver Level contributor

    All of my former homes have been in the country were the lot size was measured in acres. Never a problem. This is my first foray into a subdivision. I am trying to downsize due to health issues (arthritis).

    If the heir balks at signing and the deed has to be corrected through the courts, would you look for another property or hang in there? Fortunately we refused to give the seller a nonrefundable deposit. Our earnest money will be refunded if we back out.
     
  10. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

    You need to rely on the advice of your closing attorney. He or she knows the facts of your situation.

    I have seen title mistakes like this. All were resolved by consent or by what in the legal world is called an "in rem proceeding." The delay is due to the notice of the hearing requirement. Title acquired after an in rem proceeding is cleanest title that you can obtain--cleaner than by consent. It just takes a little longer.
     
    Smokey15 likes this.
  11. 64 wildcat conv

    64 wildcat conv Silver Level contributor

    Yes, but time is money.
    My closing attorney has still yet to receive a reply from the heir, nearly 36 hours after the heir asked for 24 hours to decide on signing.
    As the my current house and the new house are 30 miles apart, my daughters must stay in their current school. If this process takes 2 months to be resolved, that means moving in mid to late March. It would seem cruel to my kids to move schools with only a couple of months left in the school year. That means keeping them where they are at and driving the 60 mile round trip twice a day. That is a significant cost.
    On the other hand, starting the entire process over on another property will take about the same time it will take to fix the deed if it has to be done in the courts. I guess I am stuck waiting unless it looks like there will not be a fast resolution in court.
     
  12. jay3000

    jay3000 RIP 1-16-21

    Why is it that you can buy a million dollar car on an auction block at Barrett Jackson, but you can't buy a simple house without everyone putting their sticky little fingers in the deal?

    The seller of the car has the title free and clear.

    I have the deed to my house and property free and clear.

    Why is this so different if it it is a cash transaction?
     
    1973gs likes this.
  13. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

    I have seen and owned autos with title defects. Some defects include signatures of sellers in an incorrect location, error in the VIN numbers and failure to have a sellers signature notarized with the seller subsequently dying before the mistake was recognized. Mistakes happen.
     
  14. jay3000

    jay3000 RIP 1-16-21

    I guess that makes you wonder what you really own? I suppose the government owns everything. They can take it away and pay pennies on the dollar anytime they see fit.
     
    Brian Albrecht likes this.
  15. bostoncat68

    bostoncat68 Platinum Level Contributor

    I have had both real estate and car issues -- stay the course - everyone wants their money -- it will get figured out. It's VERY common and getting worse as we become more litigious. My current house closing was nearly delayed when a day or two before closing the builder discovered that he had an old open lein on the property - created a mad scramble to resolve. (Long forgotten side deal with prior property owner that was about to prevent his pay day). I went register the Cat and found out the VIN number was wrong on the prior owner's title, typo was introduced at some point and no one had noticed. Thankfully we found some really old paperwork in the glovebox that proved it was a typo. Prior owner had to go to his DMV and track it down on my behalf. We were in different states -- had to get a letter from DMV of prior state....hours of effort.
     
  16. John Codman

    John Codman Platinum Level Contributor

    The bride and I are trying to purchase the lot next door to our house. Aside from my perception that you do not have to be a high school graduate to practice law in Florida, the purchase has been a nightmare. The lot that we want to buy is held in a trust. The trust was established outside of the state of Florida (one member of the trust is deceased and lived in Georgia, the other is living in Oregon). The trust is apparently not in compliance with Florida law. Getting this fixed has become a several month PIA. As of today, I don't know what the hell is happening. I'm afraid that even though we have an accepted offer, we may not get this property due to the incompetence of those who have had their grubby hands involved in this matter previously.
     
    Last edited: Jan 13, 2019
  17. steve covington

    steve covington Well-Known Member

    Even family land gets to be a little funny at times... My grandfather and his sister inherited adjoining property from my great grandfather, and it wasn't until after my father's death and a cousin's death that there arose a minor(?) glitch in the property settlement. Apparently NOBODY got a little triangle about 10 foot by 3 foot by 2 foot where the dirt road bent at an old fence line. My sister and I own the properties that go up to that point; my brother owns the land adjoining mine; a distant cousin owns the property from her great great grandfather . The property had been designated in the wills of all parties as by old iron axles driven into the ground, and some of them were encased in concrete squares. The cousins surveyor went from the other known points (axles), and found a missing axle... At least there isn't overlapping property. Issues involve this because of the historic nature of the land: It is known as a Bicentennial farm; It has been it the same family consecutively since BEFORE the Revolutionary War, Actually a LOT longer than that.
     
  18. 64 wildcat conv

    64 wildcat conv Silver Level contributor

    I got some good news today. The heirs of the grantor from 1973 have agreed to sign the corrected deed. The new deed should be registered next week. Still no date for the closing buy at least I know it will happen.
     
  19. faster

    faster Well-Known Member

    Good news!!!!!!

    All the lots here are from 5-25 acres. I had a neighbor come running over complaining I'm throwing horse manure on his property when I dumped my trailer in the woods on the north end, (completely overgrown and no one goes in there). So I try and explain it is my property not his and offer to show him the survey from five years ago when I bought this place 6+ acres. Try and explain if you go on the property appraiser's site you can also see the property line which happens to be about 25'-30' north of where you think it is dude. No discussion just a f-u and he leaves. First time he's talked to me in five years. Have a nice day.

    Mikey
     
  20. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    Something similar here. 50 acres and new neighbor to the rear of the field decided the fence row needed cleaned up. Uhh, no. It's that way for a reason and the only thing you can "cut" is the overhanging branches. Please don't cut down MY trees. They are there for a reason and leave them alone.
     

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